So the weeks leading up to the Full Circle combined show I was riding HARD. And hitting lessons hard. I knew we had a lot of ground to make up to have a good showing. We had only begun to jump the year or so before and when we restarted we still had a lot to work on.
The show was the second Saturday in May. And because it's impossible to have a NICE day of weather at a horse show this year so far, instead of freezing cold and/or rain, it was SURFACE OF THE SUN hot. Thanks Alabama. Thankfully my parents decided to come and brought their 45 foot motorhome. Yasss. It was so nice to have to change in and cool off. The kids also liked playing in it. We set up our tent next to the horse trailer so we had a shady place to sit and watch the show across the road.
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| We had a great spot, I'm standing in the jump field |
So as usual I was later getting there then I wanted. I never seem to have enough time to warm up. He is not an insta-dressage horse and requires a good bit of time to supple and get his engine going comfortably. So of course by the time I got over to the arena hoping to have some time to ride in the same footing as the show arena, it's like one person until my ride. -_-
Anyway I did a bit of cantering trying to get his motor going but it didn't do much. He was so stiff and uninterested in bending etc. It was an okay test, no errors, but we can do so much better. SO MUCH. I believe I scored a 60%. Bleh.
Anyway we had a nice break before it was time for my jumping class. The hubby and I went over and walked the course a few times. Thankfully it was set up in the same pattern for all of rounds so I could get a good idea of what I was going to be doing, minus a few jumps. It was SO long, 10 jumps! I was a tad nervous. That seemed like an eternity to be on course. I was thinking it would be more like 8 tops??
Lee had us over there to warm up on the jumps in the warm up area about 45 minutes before the jumping was to start, so it wouldn't be so congested. Harold did great, no issues. Another short hang out time and then we all gathered for our round. Our class was first of course since we were doing the teeny 12" cross rails. I watched one lady go and then it was my turn. All the jumps had numbers on them which was great, but I STILL forgot a jump. I thought I knew where I was going and had not thought to follow the numbers as I went, whooops. Thankfully I just circled around and jumped it with no issues before continuing on. We finished clear! I was so proud of us both. That was our first course ever, at a show, and first time to jump that many in a row!
So we got a Clear Round ribbon, lol, and a second place ribbon in our dressage. Shelby had leadline after so we swapped tack on Harold again and she did another great test, for a blue of course! So far we have not seen any other lead liners this year.
Two weeks later we had our next show. This one was in Huntsville, which was about an hour and 20 from us. We decided to borrow my brothers nice travel trailer so we could stay on the grounds. The show started at 7, which jump schooling at 6! I had no desire to load a horse and four kids up at 5 in the morning. Plus we didn't get done the night before getting him stalled and schooling until nearly 9! It worked out really well.
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That morning cheesing with a Harold
who is not impressed, lol |
So the arena wigged mister Harold out a bit. It was huge in there. Lots of different sights, big glass windows at the end where the lobby was. He had also been in a stall all day. But he eventually settled and we got a few good jumps in. And just to be clear, a wigged out Harold means I had some energy under me that I don't usually have, lol.
**And this is where I go off of a year later memory because I had this post saved, never finished it and it's now JUNE 2020. No joke, lol! I wish I had buckled down and done it! I love reading details of things like this.
Anyway, I'm going to post pictures and try and let that jog my memory!
So after we schooled for a little bit I got him settled in his stall and headed in for some sleep! I was up again early that morning to get him fed and braided so we could go school before the show started.
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| Really woman, in there again?? |
He was still pretty distracted about the arena but it took him less time to settle this time. I didn't have Lee school him for me that day, I felt like we had it!
And we did! To make a long story short we got a first in walk trot, 2nd in one of our cross rail classes, and 3rd in the other to become Cross Rail Champs baby!!
Yeah, I'm sorry, I might have squealed like a school girl. Look at Harold he's like, I totally did that. So the 3rd came when I decided to canter the last jump and he hit it bad and knocked it over, otherwise we would have done first or second I think. Cantering jumps is not our forte yet.
After that Shelby did leadline and costume, and I did halter. We won first in halter and got called back for the champion class but lost to a paint being shown by a kid, who was far inferior if you ask me. Whatevs.
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This is 'Spirit' and 'Lucky' from
Netflix :D
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Obviously the cutest and best leadliner
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| Halter Champ to me |
We were supposed to be in two more (sport horse flat classes) but they were at the END OF THE SHOW and we were exhausted. It was getting really late and we just packed up and headed home. I had a BLAST but it was a lot of work with four kiddos. Daddy was amazing though, so thankful for him and his support.
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| I love my buddy |
Well this post is finally done! Stay tuned, I'm working on one about some MAJOR NEWS about Darlene! SQUEE!!
